The final companion planting myth I want to burst is that it is beneficial to surround your veggie gardens with marigolds hoping that the scent will dispel those nasty bugs. Marigolds may repel nematodes (minute worms) – but the scent of the marigold will only repel the insects away from its own roots, however, the lowly marigold will do nothing to protect your golden treasures, only add a pretty colour to your patches.

However, saying all of this I am in favour of a certain kind of companion planting – a method that involves planting flowers and herbs in with your veggies. This method not only confuses potential pests, but also adds colours and fragrances to your beds.

The biggest challenge for any gardener whether novice or beginner is to control pests and weeds. It is easy for us to spray our gardens with ‘one spray’ pesticide, but really what we need is an education in the role of insects, they are not all bad and destructive in the garden. A single hole in a lettuce leaf does not mean that we have an army of slugs and caterpillars lurking the shadows waiting for us to turn our backs so they carry out a full frontal assault! So what preventative steps can we take to minimize pest damage?

Herbs work especially well as companion plants. They multitask by attracting beneficial insects and repelling pest insects and their fragrance and foliage make them good companions in both the vegetable garden and the ornamental border. The following list is compiled from experience and other people’s suggestions. Keep in mind that some things work in conjunction with other factors in the environment. Rather than spraying, companion planting with herbs such as those with strong scents like sage, oregano, lavender and basil help to repel or confuse insects, while other herbs such as elder, dill and fennel, help to attract beneficial insects. These plants often have flowers or foliage that attract insects that prey on other pests in the garden. Remember the food chain goes down to the smaller micro-organism. Companion planting is a great way to introduce the 3 B’s into the garden, birds, bees and butterfly’s.

Companion planting with herbs benefit the garden in three different ways. The first is through masking plants – include thyme, lavender and scented geranium help to ‘mask’ the scent and patterns of your veggies. These herbs produce strong, volatile oils and scent that actually masks the plants the insects are looking for. Lavender (good at keeping away white fly) or tansy (terrific at repelling ants and flies ) and wormwood produce a scent or taste that is so bitter it drives insects away that try to eat them. Finally, there are plants that contain natural toxins or poisons which can be used to make sprays. Examples include fennel, which can be used as a flea repellant for animals, feverfew, or chamomile, which can be used as an anti fungal agent, and the dried flower of pyrethrum or chopped chili and garlic, which can be used as insect sprays.

Basil is another companion herb that can be used to repel aphids. Grow basil near your barbecue area; it will help keep away flies and mosquitoes. Plants such as elder, dill and fennel all have umbels made up of hundreds of little flowers, and these are grown to attract hover flies, which eat other pests in the garden. Planting many of these herbs in your garden will not only diversify your design, but also add attractive, interesting and aromatic elements to it.

While it may seem odd to plant vegetables and plants together, there are many benefits both in terms of insect control as well as aesthetical to the eye. How amazing would a vegetable patch look if onions were growing with pansy’s. This is something I want to explore further in my own garden and report back to you on.

Inter-planting vegetables, herbs and flowers is how the original cottage garden style evolved. Sectioning off gardens for specific types of plants was a luxury of the rich and leisured. Besides all of the benefits outlined above, if you are short of space or time, companion planting could be the answer to your gardening dilemma, it certainly beats reaching for the pesticide bottle!

Other ways to control plant disease is to prevent them occurring in the first place. This can be achieved through healthy cultivation methods:

• Not all plants suit all gardens, research what plants work best in each space in our garden.
• When you go to plant your seedlings or seeds, water the ground before sowing then water again once you have finished, this will ensure that you have given your seedlings the best start to strong growth. A good constant watering in the first few weeks will encourage strong root systems and avoid humid conditions.
• Add organic matter to soils as manures, composts and mulches – to encourage microbes that attack plant pathogens and to supply nutrients to plants keeping them vigorous and healthy.
• Soil, like our human bodies need constant nutrition, feed the soil every few weeks with seaweed, compost and manure to boost the plant’s immunity to pest and disease attacks.
• Visit your garden as often as you can, watch and learn its patterns. Sometimes I go out in the garden just to look, see what’s growing, struggling and ready to harvest. This will help me learn more about my garden, the plants I am trying to grow and what I can do differently next time to improve my results.

Learning which plants to pair as companions takes a bit of trial and error. I have been gardening a few years now and I am still learning each season. I make mistakes all the time, but this is all part of the process to growing a successful plentiful garden, especially in the vegetable patch. I will certainly try growing more flowers alongside my veggies and report on my findings.